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Talk:The Golden Sun
Quintessence? Did Alex actually say that? If I'm not mistaken, isn't the Golden Sun the ESSENCE, not quintessence, of alchemy? The purest combined form of the four elements? Is there a specific reference for that, or is this simply conjecture? I hope it's not another 'Saturn element' theory, we've had enough of those... I still stand by my statement that Sol and Luna are symbols (Sol of alchemy itself, and Luna of the seal upon it) , not elements (read: NOT light and dark), and that the closest thing we'll ever see of a so-called 'Saturn element' is non-elemental psynergy, as it's not one of the four elements. RoleOfDATS 03:55, 18 January 2009 (UTC) :He says that. "The Golden Sun... The very quintessence of Alchemy's power! It's beginning! Wait for me! Please, wait! Wait until I reach the summit of Mt. Aleph!" ^_^ Erik Jensen (Appreciate me here!) 04:22, 18 January 2009 (UTC) ::Really? ...That doesn't make much sense, though... Is that a mistranslation, or does he actually reference the 5th Greek element in the original? If it's a correct translation, then the 'Saturn Element' theories may actually hold some ground... RoleOfDATS 04:31, 18 January 2009 (UTC) :::Huh. Until now I was never aware of the word "quintessence" literally being "fifth essence". However, I was always led to believe that quintessence was merely a term for any sort of element or matter that's awesome. Both this game and Fire Emblem 7 use the term in a way that doesn't necessarily mean it's the technical "fifth" counterpart to any other "four" elements (in FE7 there's only three spell elements anyway)... Alex, IMO at least, appears to use the term merely to describe the golden sphere and beam that results from the four purified essences of the Elemental Beacons merging together, as in, pure Alchemy, rather than some sort of actual fifth Saturn element. Erik Jensen (Appreciate me here!) 17:26, 18 January 2009 (UTC) ::::Well, I've done enough gaming system development and in-depth classical element studies to know that the fifth element, also known as Quintessence, is Aether, the element representing outer space, according to one source. Click Here for more info one it, as well as here, and if you're really interested, try here as well. Aether, also called Quintessence, is literally the fifth greek element in actual history, though it is much lesser known than Earth, Fire, Air, and Water. It may be because it was a later addition that it is lesser known. For example: Everyone knows of Hydrogen and Helium and Oxygen nowadays. But have you heard of Darmstadtium? How about Roentgenium? Probably not, right? This is because everyone knows the ones we've known about for a long time, but not many people have heard of the ones that have only been recently named. Likewise, this is most likely the case with Aether as well. ::::However, it IS a fifth element, the quintessence of the greek elements. As Golden Sun's elements were loosely based off of the greek elements, IF it's not a mistranslation, there may be a fifth element. I WHOLE HEATEDLY DOUBT THAT THIS IS THE CASE, but if it's not a mistranslation, we have to keep our mind open to the possibility. RoleOfDATS 08:17, 19 January 2009 (UTC) :::: Well, the quintessence or aether/ether, in Greek classical cosmology, is indeed the fifth element, that of the celestial spheres - whereas the four we're familiar with are the terrestrial elements. The word quintessence can also mean the most perfect or pure example - the etymology of this is is because the celestial realm was supposed to be perfect. Considering the game, the specific line can be taken either way. I'm wondering myself what the original Japanese line was, if it had the same ambiguity... I doubt it's a mistranslation. Sure, there's other words for "most perfect example," but since alchemy and classical cosmology are the basis of the game's story and universe... why not quintessence? AlishaShatogi 16:18, 25 February 2009 (UTC)